Chapter 6 - The Liquid Was Never Intended To Kill Me
Testing on residue recovered from the shattered glass eventually identified a powerful sedating substance.
Not enough information survived to calculate exactly what dose I would have received.
Investigators were cautious.
So were doctors.
Nobody claimed I definitely would have died.
The likely intended result was heavy impairment.
Confusion.
Drowsiness.
Possibly unconsciousness.
That mattered.
Mallory’s plan was not simply:
Kill Ethan.
Something else was supposed to happen after I became incapable of understanding what was happening around me.
That shifted the investigation.
Why impersonate Vanessa if the only goal was to hurt me?
Why steal her dress?
Why lock her upstairs?
Why make everyone believe Vanessa had personally served or handled the contaminated drink?
Then Claire remembered something.
When Mallory poured the liquid, she deliberately looked toward one of the reception cameras.
Not directly.
But enough for the white dress to be obvious.
She wanted footage.
That changed the entire theory.
Mallory wasn’t only trying to incapacitate me.
She wanted evidence showing “Vanessa” near the poisoned drink.
Evidence that would point to my actual wife once the impersonator disappeared.
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Mallory intended to make Vanessa look responsible.
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